Cancellations Rise at King's Lynn's QE Hospital

Published
by
the KLFM News Team
at
10:41am 18th November 2014
(Updated 10:52am 18th November 2014)

The number of cancelled operations at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn has been far higher this year compared to last year - more than double in some months.

2013

2014

% Increase

Apr - Jun

53

116

118%

Jul - Sep

68

89

31%

Oct - Dec

77

?

We've approached the hospital to see if they wanted to talk to us about this, but they haven't got back to us yet.

Labour’s Jo Rust who works with Unions locally says we can do more to keep people out of A&E this winter but it won't solve the problem entirely...

“It doesn’t stop those who need A&E help from going to A&E. Our staff are under huge pressure at the moment. Locally we know how hard they are working. To add this additional burden on top of their already heavy workload, I fear, could see more departments at breaking point.

“We’re going to see people turned away, and deaths could happen. When the hospital is not receiving adequate funding, an accident is bound to happen. We are already seeing people wait in ambulances for unacceptable periods of time.”

The figures from NHS England cover operational reasons for cancelling, like when there are no beds free for the person having surgery top move into afterwards; and THAT seems to be a problem nationally.

An investigation's found thousands of patients are unnecessarily staying on NHS wards because they have nowhere else to go.

Sky News has found a lack of care staff in England is costing the service millions because patients can't be discharged.